1. Field of the Invention
An agricultural assembly designed to be towed behind a tractor or the like and designed to uproot and/or disengage vines and like undesirable growth from trees or like plants wherein the assembly travels, by virtue of the towing vehicle, continuously along rows of the cultivated trees.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The removal of certain undesirable growth, such as vines, weeds, etc., from cultivated plants has been a major problem in agriculture since man has been directing his efforts to the growing and harvesting of plants. Similarly, man, over the years, has attempted to devise practical and efficient apparatus and methods of removing or otherwise disposing of such undesirable growth so that the cultivated plants could flourish. Such previously contemplated means of disposing of undesirable growth ranges from complicated and expensive harvesting equipment to chemical application. The particular means utilized by necessity depends upon the particular application to which these means are applied. Frequently it has been found that the application of a chemical, in order to kill undesirable growth, results in harmful effects to the cultivated plants themselves.
A particular problem in the citrus industry, as well as in other agricultural areas primarily directed to the cultivation of large numbers of trees, is the removal of vines from trees. Vine growth, if left unchecked, can literally overpower citrus and like fruit bearing trees. It has become a prior art practice to attempt to destroy such vines by severing of the vines at or near the base of the tree or the ground from which the vines are growing. In the past, this has most commonly been done either manually or with make-shift machinery. The disadvantages of manually attempting to dispose of such vines or growth is obvious. It would be economically impossible to cut or uproot vines or the like due to the time involved and the resulting cost of such manual labor.
Inherent disadvantages are present with numerous prior art machinery attempting to overcome this problem. Generally, such machinery is found to be either inefficient in that the vines are not effectively disposed of or, alternately, the trees in which the vines become entangled are severely damaged. It also well recognized that disposition of these vines would be best accomplished by the complete uprooting of the vines themselves in order to prohibit, or delay as long as possible, the regrowing of the vine. Mere cutting or severing of the vine at or near their roots burdensome postpones, for a relatively short period, the regrowth of the vine back into the cultivated trees. However, particular machinery adapted to uproot such vines has been found to be prohibitively expensive and has not overcome the problem of tree damage when applied in actual operation.
Accordingly, it is recognized in the agricultural industry that there is a great need for a structure that can efficiently, quickly and inexpensively dispose of vine-type growth from cultivated citrus trees and the like by means of uprooting such vines so as to prohibit their regrowth and thereby delay, as long as possible, the burdensom entanglement of such vine growth in the trees attempting to be cultivated.